SQUIRREL CAGE JAILS - a part of Missouri History

TOURISM - Squirrel Cage Jails

PART ONE

I am going to have to break this writing into three separate blog postings. The topic is part of American history, and writing about it takes some time. I first wrote about these jails during my senior year at University of Missouri - Columbia. I am going to try and condense my thirty-five page research paper into a three part blog. I will not be able to cover everything I included in the paper, but hopefully I will be able to entice you into looking at these jails further.

Researching items and locations in Missouri that attract tourists has been a passion of mine for several years, and while at MU I was able to fine tune my interest. I am not necessarily interested in the numbers (although they matter), but I am interested in the why. Why do tourists visit some of the points of interest, but not all. I am trying to highlight some of the little known attractions that would make great day trips for local tourists.

It took four months for me to research this topic and to visit the three remaining locations. I will cover a little of the history and basics of this unique type of jail, and then finish with a look at the Missouri connections and locations.

The topic is “Squirrel cage jails”, “human rotary jails” or also known as “lazy Susan jails”. Originally there were 18 of them in the late 1800’s and mainly located in the Midwest.

In the late 1800’s, William H. Brown – an architect and Benjamin F. Haugh – an ironwork businessman, both from Indianapolis, Indiana designed and patented the rotating jail concept known as Squirrel Cage Jails. The patent was issued on July 12, 1881 to Brown and Haugh. They declared in their paperwork that the object of their invention was to jail where prisoners could be easily controlled without constant supervision from the jailer. The overall concept was to provide maximum security with the least amount of jailer supervision. The Gallatin, Missouri jail was built by a St. Louis company that changed the patent jail a little.

The pie shaped cells and the revolving mechanism proved to be a problem as the jails were used. Living conditions became almost unbearable with sewage conditions, and several prisoners lost arms and hands from the rotating of the cells. The mechanism would also lock up, keeping the jail from rotating to allow for meals and other tasks. These type of jail was not as efficient as its designers had intended. They actually become so dangerous that their use was discontinued in the early 1900's.

There were originally 18 of these jails built, and today only three are left standing. Most were closed in the period between 1960 -1978. All but the three were torn down. Today those still standing are being used as museums of some type and are open to visitors. They are all on the National Historical Registry.

In the next blog posting I will be writing about two of the rotary jails that are unique in their own right, and are in other states. My last posting will be about the jail in Missouri, located in Gallatin.

Enjoy a little history and tourism information!

Marilyn